Research unit to start OPD in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), an arm of the Indian Council of Medical Research, will start outpatient department (OPD) services in the city on Saturday.

RMRC director S K Kar said the services on the institute's Chandrasekharpur campus will be available for referred patients (select diseases) only. While TB clinics will be operational three days a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), clinics for filariasis, haemoglobinopathy and viral diseases will be open two days a week (Tuesday and Wednesday). Gradually, the clinics will be extended to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension and open five days a week, he said.

The organization, which is not into patient care directly, will start the services to get its own pool of patients for research purpose, Kar said.

He said doctors will be using laboratory inputs along with clinical symptoms for diagnosis. "Consultation and diagnosis will be free," he said.

Established in 1989, the RMRC has been screening lymphatic filariasis patients at the Capital Hospital OPD here twice a week from June 2001. The clinics (Monday, Thursday), will continue, Kar said.

The RMRC will open a model rural health research unit at Tigiria in Cuttack district on January 31. The unit will undertake research on TB, measles and anaemia among rural population.